He posted a brief video which appears to show a cart that overturned because of the harsh conditions. In a separate post, Justice wrote the plane "did a nose dive, twice", but commended the crew for managing the situation.

Dave Macias, a passenger, said, "We just saw the drink cart go up in the air".

Passengers described the encounter with turbulence this way, "So scary I mean, we're lucky that the pilot got us out of it".

Flight 5763 had left from Orange County with 59 passengers and 4 crew on board, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported. According to a statement from Compass, customers will be refunded and were given seats on an alternate flight to Seattle later Wednesday evening. It has also been reported that the two passengers and one flight attendant who were hospitalized were all conscious when they exited the aircraft.

Another passenger, Barbara Belcher, said passengers were offered free pizza after the incident.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning through 11 p.m. Thursday for most of the Sierra Nevada, including Lake Tahoe, where 2 to 5 feet (61 centimeters to 1.5 meters) of snow is possible in the highest elevations.